Seniors just can’t tighten their belts any further

SENIORS across the Rose City say the latest rates hike has caused such financial stress it has forced them to cut back on essentials like heating and medication.

CUTS BITE: Many seniors forced to cut back on essentials to cope with rising costs. Picture: Monkeybusinessimages

SENIORS across the Rose City say the latest rates hike has caused such financial stress it has forced them to cut back on essentials like heating and medication.

Warwick Senior Citizens Association members Joe Owens and Mick McEniery said the increases were too much for some to bear.

"Every increase, whether it is rates, rego or anything else, has a big impact on seniors and their lifestyle," Mr McEniery said.

"The first thing to go is the car and they tend to stay more isolated and housebound.

"They just won't be able to interact and that's terrible because seniors deteriorate both medically and mentally when isolated.

"They have to cut back somewhere and that will also be going to the doctor, medication and food."

Mr McEniery said he had already started to see the effects.

"(Last week) we had a member who came and played cards in the morning and said she was going to home to bed because she couldn't afford heating - that was at lunchtime," he said.

Mr Owens said increases in living expenses were especially tough for seniors.

"Seniors have a limited amount of money - they don't have the capacity to increase their income," he said.

"The council needs to get back to its core business and try to get us out of this mess.

"They need to learn to live within a budget and they need to learn the difference between 'need' and 'want'."

Fellow senior Marg Wilkie said she was fearful of what would happen in the near future.

"What worries me is what happens next year. This is now the benchmark for the next rise and that is crazy," she said.

"We simply won't be able to pay our rates. And we won't be able to sell because nobody will want to buy our highly-rated homes.

"Then where will we be?

" In a tent on the banks of the Condamine River?"

Mrs Wilkie attended council meetings in relation to the budget and urged all community members to engage in a similar way.

"I like to attend the general meetings in Warwick when I possibly can," she said.

"I would like to see the gallery filled with interested ratepayers.

"It isn't fair to wait until the controversy comes up and then complain. People need to see how those elected ones vote and how our money is being spent.

"I congratulate the papers on their reporting of these meetings and for giving people an idea of what is going on."

Originally published as Seniors just can’t tighten their belts any further